The sports gene : talent, practice and the truth about success / David Epstein.
Material type:
TextPublication details: London Yellow Jersey Press, 2014.Description: xiv, 338 pages ; 20 cmISBN: - 9780224091626
- 022409162X
- 796.01 EPS
| Item type | Current library | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Loan | Moylish Library Main Collection | 796.01 EPS (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 39002100624874 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
'A wonderful book. Thoughtful...fascinating' Malcolm Gladwell
Do you believe some people are born athletes?
Is sporting talent innate or something that can be achieved through endurance and practise?
In this ground-breaking and entertaining exploration of athletic success, award-winning writer David Epstein gets to the heart of the great nature vs. nurture debate, and explodes myths about how and why humans excel.
Along the way, Epstein-
- Exposes the flaws in the so-called 10,000-hour rule that states that rigorous practice from a young age is the only route to success.
- Shows why some skills that we imagine are innate are not - like the bullet-fast reactions of a baseball player.
- Uncovers why other characteristics that we assume are entirely voluntary, like the motivation to practice, might in fact have important genetic components.
Throughout, The Sports Gene forces us to rethink the very nature of success.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction: in search of sports genes -- Beat by an underhand girl: the gene-free model of expertise -- A tale of two high jumpers (or: 10,000 hours plus or minus 10,000 hours) -- Major league vision and the greatest child athlete sample ever: the hardware and software paradigm -- Why men have nipples -- The talent of trainability -- Superbaby, bully whippets, and the trainability of muscle -- The big bang of body types -- The vitruvian NBA player -- We are all black (sort of): race and genetic diversity -- The warrior-slave theory of Jamaican sprinting -- Malaria and muscle fibers -- Can every Kalenjin run? -- The world\'s greatest accidental (altitudinous) talent sieve -- Sled dogs, ultrarunners, and couch potato genes -- The heartbreak gene: death, injury, and pain on the field -- The gold medal mutation -- Epilogue: the perfect athlete.
POPULAR SCIENCE. In this ground-breaking and entertaining exploration of athletic success, award-winning writer David Epstein gets to the heart of the great nature vs. nurture debate, and explodes myths about how and why humans excel. Along the way, Epstein exposes the flaws in the so-called 10,000-hour rule that states that rigorous practice from a young age is the only route to success. He shows why some skills that we imagine are innate are not - like the bullet-fast reactions of a baseball player - and why other characteristics that we assume are entirely voluntary, like the motivation to practice, might in fact have important genetic components. Throughout, The Sports Gene forces us to rethink the very nature of success.